Entertainment

The Twitter Flatline: Why Doesn't Twitter Grow? [STATS]

Twitter's growth has stalled for yet another month, according to new numbers from Compete and Quantcast. In fact, Twitter.com's traffic peaked in July 2009 and hasn't reached that level since.

According to web analytics firm Compete, Twitter's U.S. traffic grew by 1.45 percent, from 22.48 million in November to 22.81 million unique visitors in December, hardly numbers to brag about. It's even worse when you consider that these are lower numbers than June 2009. We started to notice this trend all the way back in May, but could never have guessed then it would continue into the new year.

Quantcast's numbers tell the same story. Since its peak at 29.2 million users in July, Twitter has dropped down to 23.6 million U.S. uniques, a loss of nearly 24 percent. The six-month graph from Quantcast tells the story:

Shaq, Oprah, Ashton and CNN all helped lead Twitter to the attention of the mainstream media and countless businesses. The social media company's growth threatened Facebook and even affected world politics.

In fact, Twitter still commands the world's attention, but part of the reason so many people have turned to it is because it's perceived to be a rapidly growing platform. Unfortunately, the numbers say otherwise.

What will happen to the Twitterverse when more people are aware of these numbers?

Potential Reasons for Twitter's Flatline

Figuring out why Twitter won't grow is the billion-dollar question. If the company can't find a solution, and soon, it will be forced to try more dramatic moves or even allow itself to be acquired.

We've heard many potential reasons for the growth ceiling. Here are the ones that make the most sense to us:

- Twitter itself has a limited appeal. Only a small amount of people "have something to say" on a consistent basis.

- Twitter's user retention rate is famously weak. The issue became public in April 2009, but has yet to be solved.

- For many, Twitter hasn't hit critical mass. Part of why people are on Facebook is because everybody else is on it. We may still be far away from that inflection point for the common Internet user.

What Twitter Needs to Address

We think the true answer behind the Twitter flatline phenomenon lies somewhere within these four reasons. Twitter apps have grown and have become a larger percentage of Twitter's user base, but even with that factored in, Twitter still has the other three problems.

Twitter has to find a way to expand its appeal, either by adjusting its image in the eyes of the public or by helping change the public into more rabid content creators. It also needs to work on more effective ways to get those who sign up to tweet long after they sign up.

The company has to address these issues before it can attain an undeniable critical mass that will propel its growth again. Without it, Twitter risks marginalization rather than ascension.

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